When fans go too far

Don Boomer

Cal State San Marcos University professor Vassilis Dalakas wrote a research paper on Schadenfreude in fans after reading disturbing comments from Cleveland Browns fans following the death of Art Modell.

Cal State San Marcos University professor Vassilis Dalakas wrote a research paper on Schadenfreude in fans after reading disturbing comments from Cleveland Browns fans following the death of Art Modell. (Don Boomer)

What is it about sports that makes an otherwise civilized, respectful person suddenly act like a jerk?

That’s the question raised in a research paper by Cal State University, San Marcos marketing professor Vassilis Dalakas. He studied the disturbing reaction some Cleveland, Ohio, residents had to the death of Art Modell, who as team owner in 1996 moved their beloved Browns to Baltimore, where they became the Ravens. “Enjoy your ride to HELL you SOB!” one fan wrote at the end of the 2012 ESPN story about Modell’s death. “You stole what wasn’t yours!”

“Buh bye Modell scum,” another person wrote. “Glad you’re dead.”

Dalakas, 45, a Greek immigrant who moved to the United States in 1990, had studied the behavior of hard-core sport fans before but still was surprised at the extent of the vitriol.

“I knew that we take sports seriously, but I wanted to see the extent,” he said about why used the Browns fans’ comments as the basis for his study. “I know there’s a line that could or could not be crossed, and never before has it been looked at in the context of somebody’s death.”

Aggressive behavior from die-hard fans is nothing new. Fans have shot, stabbed, beaten and even run over people who support opposing teams. Most tragically, 39 soccer people died in 1985 in a Brussels stadium after they were crushed against a wall while fleeing fans from an opposing team.

Dalakas’ research, which was conducted with professor Joanna Melancon from Western Kentucky University and former CSUSM student Tarah Sreboth, focused not on violent behavior or joy in a rival’s defeat, but on the taboo of mocking somebody’s death.

The paper, “A Qualitative Inquiry on Schadenfreude by Sport Fans,” will be published next month in the Journal of Sport Behavior.

Schadenfreude is a German term for taking pleasure at a rival’s misfortune, which some Cleveland residents experienced Sept. 6, 2012, the day Modell died.

The research paper broke down the 233 ESPN reader comments into three categories. One category, “Schadenfreud intensified,” contained the ugliest posts and represented 42 percent of the comments. Of those, about 10 percent openly celebrated Modell’s death.

“There is a special place for you,” one fan wrote. “Burn baby Burn!”

About 19 percent of comments curbed their anger, with some saying they were not dancing on his grave, but hadn’t forgiven or forgotten what he did.

About 39 percent of comments disapproved of showing schadenfreude, and one person requested ESPN shut down the comments page.

“No man deserves this,” the person wrote.

Only about 6 percent of comments expressed forgiveness for Modell.

In academic terms, Dalakas wrote that “highly identified fans engage in biased processing of information, even in the presence of objective facts and arguments.”

In other words, die-hard fans who otherwise may be smart and responsible people make dumb decisions and behave like jerks when it comes to their teams.

In earlier studies, Dalakas found that die-hard NASCAR fans patronized the sponsors of their favorite driver, even if they knew their products were inferior. And they refused to buy products from sponsors of rival drivers.

As an alumnus of the University of Oregon, Dalakas can identify. He was crushed when the Ducks lost to Ohio State in the national college football championship game and he vowed never to use UPS again after the company tweeted congratulations to the Buckeyes.

While the ugly comments about Modell’s death were disturbing and tasteless, Dalakas said they were otherwise harmless. He does wonder, however, if the comments could escalate to action.

“If it gives so much joy for their rival to feel pain, at what point does someone take it upon themselves to inflict the pain?” he said.

“Clearly, this is a minority, but it is worth investigating the extent die-hard fans will go,” he said.

Dalakas said sport franchises should keep fans’ potential behavior in mind and consider restricting alcohol sales at games and monitoring social media sites for comments that are inappropriate or may incite violence

He also said teams should be respectful when doing promotions that could encourage poor behavior.

“I feel sports teams have to be very, very cautious about how they build team loyalty,” he said.

In local examples of that type of poor behavior, a former San Diego State University student reportedly posted on Twitter insensitive comments about University of New Mexico basketball coach Craig Neal’s son after he was hospitalized for an appendectomy last year.

In recent weeks, a University of Las Vegas fan reportedly tweeted ugly comments about a University of New Mexico basketball player whose mother has cancer.

Aztecs Athletics assistant media relations director Darin Wong said such behavior is not typical of the comments left on the school’s social media sites.

The SDSU Athletics Department has a Twitter account and Facebook page, and the Aztec football team also has its own Facebook page. Wong said in the two years he’s been involved with social media at the university, he does not remember having to delete many inappropriate comments.

The operators of the accounts post information about their teams but steer away from taking jabs at opponents or negative comments.

“It’s all about sportsmanship,” he said. ‘It’s just professional courtesy.”

Dalakas said studying how die-hard fans can lose their humanity has resulted in him keeping his emotions more in check on game day.

“In a game when a rival player goes down, my first instinct is to cheer that,” he said. “But now, from studying this, I have that extra filter. OK, be passionate about the team you love, but don’t lose your humanity. At the end of the day, it’s just a game.”